Lakeside
by ACasualWriter
Summary: After the defeat of the giant bugs, the FAYZ survivors split into two groups: one living in Perdido Beach, and one at Lake Tramonto. Even in this time of peace, there are other battles to be fought. [Edilio/Roger and Dekka/Brianna. Set just after Plague and before Fear.]
1. Chapter 1: Run-Ins

Brianna was on watch duty during the play. She stood at the edge of the dock, swinging her Bowie knife around while the rest of the kids were watching a "modern Cinderella" play. That was okay, though. She really didn't have much interest in it, even if Cinderella was a sassy, rebellious teen.

Not that standing guard was very fun without any action. She kept repeatedly scanning the horizon for anything — Drake, a coyote, a helpless child, Drake. Preferably Drake. Brianna was dying to be the one to finally take him out. She'd be a hero. With her new Bowie knife she could easily chop him up and spread his body parts across the FAYZ. She'd like to see him try to regenerate after that.

Then she saw it, a coyote. Not close enough to be a danger to the lake, but how could she resist such a tempting offer?

Before the coyote even had time to move, she was already right next to it. It tried to spin around to attack her, but, unsurprisingly, she was quicker. She chopped off it's tail and it cried out in pain. Brianna laughed in delight at the effectiveness of her new weapon before she stabbed the coyote somewhere near the heart.

"Play dead," she grunted, and the animal went limp. She scanned around for others, but she couldn't see any. Sighing, she sped back to the lake.

She stopped abruptly in front of an irritated Dekka.

"Brianna!" she scolded. "You weren't supposed to leave your post."

Brianna rolled her eyes. "You're so uptight. I just went to kill a coyote." She raised her bloody knife.

Dekka glared at her before she turned and walked back to the play.

Brianna watched her leave. During the giant bug incident, Dekka had confessed her love to Brianna. Brianna didn't know how to feel about that. She'd always thought of her and Dekka as sisters, not like that. But now that she knew how Dekka felt, she might have felt the same way too.

But then there was also Jack. He was cute and smart, but did she really like him, or was she just trying to? Whenever they made out it didn't seem like anything special. She only did it because she was bored. She was only twelve, and people expected her to know if she was a lesbian or not.

She sighed, and leaned against a wooden post, watching the fake sun set.

* * *

Ever since the Perdido Beach fire, Roger had admired Edilio. While he hadn't actually seen him in action, since Roger had been unconscious — much to his embarrassment — but he'd heard what happened. How Edilio had helped in saving the town from the idiocy of Zil.

Roger hadn't thought twice about Edilio before that. He'd secretly had a small crush on Sam, but he'd never admit that to anyone. Edilio, in his opinion, was even more heroic and selfless than Sam.

Okay, maybe he was a bit obsessed, and it's not like Edilio was gay, anyway. The possibility was highly unlikely. But now, at the Cinderella play, he was sitting next to Edilio. His heart was beating irritably fast. They hadn't said a word to each other so far, but still.

He kept trying to gather the confidence to say something, but he was afraid of saying something wrong.

"This actually turned out better than I thought it would," Roger heard. It was Edilio. Was he talking to him? He looked to the right, where Edilio was sitting. He was looking at the person next to him, another soldier. Roger's heart sank. Of course he wasn't talking to him. He was just a civilian.

Suddenly Roger lost all interest in the play. He stood up to go back to his boat, but his foot knocked over Edilio's cup of water, spilling it all over Edilio's pants.

"Sorry!" he said quickly. He knelt down and picked up the cup quickly, saving a bit of the water.

"It's alright," Edilio said, his face reddening almost as much as Roger's. He rubbed off some of the water with his hand. He looked up and their eyes met for a moment. Edilio's eyes were a deep brown, and the setting sun reflected off them beautifully, making them look caramel.

Roger looked away. Now Edilio would think he was a klutz. Which might be true, but still, he was a bit chubby despite months of starving and he was nowhere near as attractive as Edilio. He had no chance.

"Sorry," Roger said again, and walked quickly back to his houseboat.

Dekka was grumpy, as usual. She was sitting at the edge of the dock as the sun rose in the false sky. She watched as the lake residents slowly woke up, and made their way to the food storage boat to get breakfast.

Her mildly peaceful time was interrupted when one of Edilio's soldiers came to get her. He told her that Sam called a meeting in the White Houseboat. Something about a septic system.

When she got to the boat, Sam, Edilio, a few of his soldiers and a few others were in the first room, standing around the edge.

"Dekka," Sam greeted. He was acting even more snappy than usual, probably because Astrid was still gone. "Alright, well, we can't keep peeing in the forest," he said. "We need some sort of system. Any ideas?"

There was silence for a moment, before Mohamed, Albert's "representative" of the lake spoke. "Albert talked to me about some ideas he had for a bathroom system," he said, a slight Middle Eastern accent. "He thought maybe we could do something like dig a big slit trench and put one of the train car walls on top of it, and set up little stalls over some holes that Sam could burn into the train wall."

"That could be pretty sweet, actually," one of Edilio's soldiers said.

"Better than shitting in a hole in your backyard," Howard agreed.

Sam nodded thoughtfully. "What do you think, Edilio?"

Edilio looked at him. He blinked, looking distracted. "What was that?" he asked.

"What's wrong, 'Dilio?" Howard asked. "You hungover?" He smirked at an unamused Edilio.

"Howard, you're a filthy bottom-feeding—" Dekka started, only to be cut off by Sam.

"Of Mohamed's idea. With the train car walls," Sam said, ignoring Howard.

"Oh. Yeah," Edilio said. "Um... It's a good idea. I'll get people to help build slit trenches, but how would we get the train car walls all the way to the lake? That train is pretty far away."

"Albert says he can get Caine to do it for us," Mohamed chimed in. He added, "Not for free, knowing Caine."

Sam rolled his eyes. "'Course," he said, disgustedly. "What does he want?"

Mohamed shrugged. "Probably the usual extra fish. I don't know. I'll check with him on my next visit to town."

Dekka looked at Sam. "Am I still needed here?"

He shook his head. "You can go, Dekka. Thanks for showing up."

She left without another word, done with their attempt at politics. She was disappointed to see that her spot at the dock had been taken, but it was too noisy there anyway. The crowd at the food boat head cleared up, though. She decided to get breakfast.

Dekka stepped inside the boat, where a responsible boy named Dylan oversaw the distribution of the food. He was obviously bored, as he was repeatedly rolling two dice — rare items in the FAYZ nowadays — but he was dutiful and remained at his post.

He noticed her and sat up. "Hey, Dekka," he greeted.

"Hi, Dylan," she said back. "What's the menu for today?"

Dylan looked at his clipboard. "Uh... canned fruit and vegetables. Would you like pears or peas?"

"Pears."

He nodded to where two girls about nine years old were digging through a crate. The Artful Roger, a boy who Dekka knew only by name, was waiting patiently behind them. Dekka thanked Dylan and silently waited her turn before fishing out a can of pears. She turned to leave when Brianna blurred to a stop in the doorway.

"Hey, Dylan!" she said cheerily. Then she noticed Dekka, and her expression went neutral. "Dekka," she said, like she was greeting her teacher.

Dekka couldn't help but admire her. Her sloppy red pigtails, her fit legs, the bad-ass look the sawed-off shotgun sticking out of her backpack gave her.

"Brianna," Dekka said, venting all the stress and anger she had in that one word.

Brianna sped past her and back to the food crates without another word.

Dekka caught Dylan staring at her. She knew he knew about what happened between her and Brianna. And what didn't happen. Everyone did.

"What?" she snapped.

* * *

Edilio wasn't sure why the boy from the play kept crossing his mind. It wasn't even him knocking over the water onto his leg — he'd pretty much forgotten that detail — but it was the smaller things, like his eyes and his nervous, embarrassed smile.

He knew who the boy was. He was the Artful Roger, known for his artistic talent. His nickname was supposed to be a play on some person called the Artful Dodger, but Edilio had no idea who that was.

But that wasn't important. What was important was that Edilio couldn't stop thinking about him, and it frustrated him. Why was one boy he had no acquaintance so important to his subconscious?

Edilio sighed as he walked along the dock, taking a swig from his plastic water bottle. He'd just gotten out of Sam's septic system meeting, and was unusually fed up with Howard. Howard's puny insults normally didn't affect him at all, but today he was irritated. He just wanted to lay down in his dark houseboat room.

"Edilio!" someone called.

He pretended he hadn't heard them, but he heard footsteps behind him and exhaled in resignation. He turned around to see Jezzie, Sinder's friend. Edilio admired her resilience, as she was still wearing her signature all-black attire in the summer heat.

Smiling what he hoped was friendlily, he said, "T'sup, Jezzie? You need something?"

Jezzie stopped in front of him, bouncing slightly on her feet excitedly. "Yeah. It's really cool! Get Sam, too."

Edilio raised an eyebrow. "Cool," he repeated. "Why would this require Sam? Or me, really."

"It's really important, I swear," Jezzie insisted. She motioned to the east edge of the lake. "It's just down there, a few minute's walk."

Edilio considered this. He had nothing else to do. And maybe it would help get Roger off of his mind. "Okay, I guess," he said. "Go get Sam and bring him back here. I'm gonna get myself some food."

Jezzie nodded enthusiastically and ran bouncily toward the White Houseboat to fetch Sam.

After making a mental note to round up slit trench diggers later, Edilio turned to the food boat. He took another drink of his water as he walked inside. As he tilted his head back to drink, he ran right into somebody, and spilled his water on both of them.

It was Roger.

"Oh, God, I'm sorry," Edilio apologized at the same time Roger squeaked, "Sorry!"

Roger's eyes widened in horror as looked up to see who it was that had run into him.

"I'm sorry," they both said again in unison. They stepped away from each other.

Edilio felt his cheeks grow hot. He looked at Roger, who was blushing, too. "I guess we're even," Edilio said, with a little laugh.

Roger nodded. "Yeah," he agreed, obviously uncomfortable.

They awkwardly looked at each other for a moment before Roger said, "Well... sorry, again," and then walked quickly away.

Edilio watched him go. Cursing himself silently for his idiocy, he walked inside the food boat and passed Brianna, who was leaving.

"Hey, Edilio," she greeted, before she sped away.

Dekka was inside, looking at him with interest. Edilio blushed at the attention.

"We have a lot to talk about," Dekka said, with a small smirk.


	2. Chapter 2: Unclear Thoughts

Dekka had definitely noticed Edilio and Roger. The way they had acted around each other, and looked at each other. She wasn't going to say it flat out to Edilio, though, she was wiser than that. If he wasn't already sure, it'd scare him. It'd scared her when somebody had asked her if she was gay before she knew, though Edilio being any other sexuality that included him liking boys was a possibility. She wanted to help him the best she could.

Edilio obviously needed someone to talk to, though, and she just planned to be that person. She considered them friends, and wanted to help him out with something she knew quite a bit about. And besides, it'd help her get her mind off Brianna.

Edilio had tried to get himself out of talking to her by saying he had to have Jezzie show him something, so Dekka had told him that she'd come with him. When it became apparent that he was actually telling the truth, she said she'd go with him. He'd led her to their rendezvous point on the dock, where Sam and Jezzie stood. Sam did not look thrilled; his hair was still messy and untamed, and he wore an expression of irritation. Not that that was too abnormal for Sam, lately. Ever since Astrid had left, he'd always been grumpy and never satisfied with anything.

"Come on, guys!" Jezzie exclaimed. She grabbed Sam's arm and tried to pull him with her, but he swatted her shoulder and she dropped his hand, looking unfazed.

"What's this about?" Dekka inquired.

Edilio shrugged, paying more attention to his drenched shirt, as Sam said in his morning voice, "Probably something pointless."

"It's not pointless," Jezzie insisted, looking irritated. "Just — just look. Come on."

She led them away from the docks and toward the northern edge of the barrier, near the lake, without another word. Occasionally she would glance back at them to make sure they were still following her.

Edilio had managed to avoid Dekka by starting up conversation with Sam about an idea of his for the septic system. He would throw her anxious glances every once in awhile, but never made eye contact.

"You win this round," Dekka muttered.

"Look!" Jezzie shouted. She pointed to what looked like a garden patch, where Sinder, recognizable by her dark attire, was tending the plants. Orc sat nearby on a boulder next to the patch, reading a book.

Sinder looked up at the sound of Jezzie's voice, and her face lit up. She finished what she was doing and went to meet them at the edge of the garden. It was about four yards on each side, square, and was outlined by an outline in the dirt. Part of the space was unprofessionally tilled. Only about a fourth of square had plants growing.

"Tell them," Jezzie said to Sinder, bounding over to her side.

Sinder looked at them, making sure they were paying attention. "Okay. So," she started, "I have a power."

Dekka raised an eyebrow. "Yeah?"

"What is it?" Edilio asked.

"It's like a green thumb power," she said. When she received incomprehensible stares as replies, she went on to explain. "I make plants grow. Fast. Not, like, immediately, but accelerated. I can grow food for the lake!"

The audience of three observed the garden.

"This is really good, actually," Edilio marveled.

Sinder and Jezzie beamed.

Sam nodded in agreement. "Cool. What kind of plants do you have here?"

Sinder and Jezzie went on to tell them about the garden's current state and their plans for the future. Dekka caught some of it, but mostly she was thinking about other things. Like Edilio and Roger. Like Brianna.

No, not Brianna.

She looked behind her at the lake. A figure was standing at the edge of the docks, waving their arms in the air to two other people. Brianna.

Dekka sighed. She had bigger problems than a smartass preteen girl and her friend's sexuality.

Didn't she?

* * *

Dekka would not relent. All day she pestered Edilio, waiting for him to finish tasks, finding excuses to talk to him. As he finished his work for the day, he sent one of his soldiers out to scout out the area for Dekka.

"What? Why?" she'd asked.

"I'm avoiding her," Edilio said. "Don't ask why. Please."

The soldier rolled her eyes and stepped outside to look for Dekka. She scanned the area, then gave Edilio an all-clear sign.

"Thank you," Edilio muttered as he walked past her out of the dock's office.

The false sun was setting beneath the fake sky, and the sunset was reflected on the lazy waves of the lake. Most kids were returning to their living places now, so the docks were slowly emptying. Edilio spotted Brianna sitting on the edge of a dock, swinging her legs with her super-speed over the side, creating a small cloud of mist, while Computer Jack sat next to her, reading something that looked like a comic. He almost said hi to them, but before he did, Jack leaned over to show Brianna something in his comic.

"He has super-speed, too," he said, pointing at a page.

Brianna peered over at the comic. "I have a better name."

Edilio turned to walk to the White Houseboat, where him, Sam, Dekka, Mohammed, and three other kids who were a part of the lake's government lived. Hopefully Dekka wouldn't be in there. Maybe he should send someone in to check. No, he'd done that too many times already….

He decided just to hope for the best, since he couldn't avoid her forever, anyway.

He walked past a boy exiting a houseboat, saying goodbye to its occupants. Edilio glanced over at him, and then stopped dead in his tracks. It was Roger, again. Oh, god, what should he do? Should he say hi? The last time he'd encountered him he had spilled water on him…. What if he messed something up again?

And why did he care so much?

"Roger," he blurted suddenly, not planning to do so. He mentally cursed himself for his rashness. "Um — hi."

Roger froze, and his eyes widened. "Edilio," he stuttered. "Uh, hey."

They stood there for a moment, silent, both of their faces flushed. Roger was clutching a stack of pencils in one of his hands, and sheet of paper was in his other. Edilio, making up as he went along, said, "Sorry for spilling water on you earlier."

"That's okay," Roger assured, smiling. "We're even, I guess." That was almost exactly what Edilio had said to him earlier, but he decided against pointing that out.

"Yeah," Edilio agreed. "There's been lots of spilled water lately."

They shared a laugh, and then silence fell again. They glanced awkwardly at each other before someone called, "Edilio!"

Edilio and Roger turned their heads to see Dekka standing outside the White Houseboat, looking at them.

"Sam needs you," she called, beckoning to him.

Edilio looked back to Roger. "See you around, then," he said with a smile, then hurried off, glad to be out of that uncomfortable situation.

"What's he need?" Edilio asked Dekka when he reached their boat.

Dekka smirked, which contradicted her normal aura of aggravation. "Sam's been asleep for an hour."

Edilio blinked. "Then why'd you say Sam needed me?"

"Because you were so obviously uncomfortable talking to him, and I thought I'd get you out of it," Dekka explained.

"Oh. Uh, thanks." He made a move to go past her into the boat, but she stepped in front of him, blocking the doorway.

"So, what's the deal with you and the Artful Roger? You two just friends?"

Edilio felt himself blush, and he looked at the ground, suddenly finding interest in the dock's floorboards. "Um… yeah. Well, we're not really friends, we've only talked, like, twice."

Dekka nodded. "Right. Well, next time you try to talk to him, don't talk about the water incidents again. Ask him about his art or something. Something that can actually start a conversation."

Asking Roger about his art had never occurred to him. It should have, considered the boy was known for being an artist — hence "the Artful Roger" nickname — but he must have just blanked out. Yeah, he definitely blanked out.

"Yeah," Edilio said, looking behind him to see Roger enter the houseboat he lived on. "Yeah, I will."


	3. Chapter 3: Something To Think About

"Oh my God, really?"

"Yes, I know, it was so awkward," Roger groaned. He rolled over on the floor to hide his face.

"You really need practice with this," Roger's friend, Margo, told him.

Still groaning, Roger rolled over on his back. "I know I do. I just, like… panic."

Margo sat up on her bed, studying him. "I get it. But if he's gonna like you, he's gonna like you for you, so just act normal. Try your best."

Roger sighed, looking over at his best friend. She was Korean, with a dark pixie cut that she had gotten from the lake's "hair-cutter." She was fifteen, about a year older than him, and pansexual. She had been the one to help him figure out he was gay, and they had been best friends since.

"Yeah, but that would mean I would have to face him again. I am never leaving your houseboat ever again."

"No, no, you have to," Margo ordered. "Come on, let's go now."

Roger groaned loudly. He didn't have the courage or motivation to purposefully talk to Edilio.

"Not to talk to him, just to be seen by him, maybe," she compromised. She stood up, and bent down to grab Roger's arm and pull him up into a sitting position.

"Fine," Roger said, resigning. He stood up and followed her out into the houseboat's main room.

Margo's five-year-old brother, Mack, was sitting in a circle on the floor with Justin and Atria, the two littles Roger lived with. They were watching something in the middle of them all intently,, pointing at it. Liz, another girl who lived in the houseboat with them, was sitting in a chair in the corner of the room, reading a book. Her boyfriend, Alan, lived with them, too, but he wasn't there currently.

"What are you guys doing?" Roger asked as he and Margo walked past.

"There's a roly-poly," Justin said, sounding like he was concentrating hard.

"Her name is Jojo," Mack informed them. "She is a baby."

Atria nodded. "We're keeping her safe."

Roger and Margo smiled. "From what?" Margo asked.

"Coyotes," the three littles said.

"And Drake," Mack added, a hint of terror in his voice. Drake was a sort of bogeyman for the littles.

Margo grabbed a wooden baseball bat that was leaning against the wall, and put it on the floor next to the three kids. "Use this in case any coyotes come, alright?"

"And don't leave the boat," Roger told them. "Stay here until we get back."

The kids agreed, and Roger and Margo walked out onto the deck. It was sunny out, around noon, and most of the kids were crowded on the edge of the lake, watching something. The pair looked at each other, neither knowing what it was about.

"Hey," Margo called to John Terrafino as he passed by, holding a little's hand. "What's going on?"

"Caine's here," John answered. "Helping move some train walls. Causing commotion." He shrugged, and then moved on to join the crowd.

Roger thought of Diana, who lived on his houseboat with him. Caine being so near would probably make her anxious, since she left him behind last week after they migrated to the lake.

"Let's go check it out," Margo suggested. When Roger looked uninterested, she added, "Edilio will probably be there."

Roger smiled, blushing. "Okay, okay. Just for a bit, though."

They walked to over to the scene, and as they approached they could hear aggravated yelling.

"Caine, please could you just stack them for now? We will need you again, but—"

"I never agreed to a two-part job!"

"I know, but we haven't—"

Roger and Margo found their way to the front of the crowd, to see Sam, Edilio, Dekka, and Brianna standing in a cluster, all yelling at Caine, while Computer Jack was looking frantically at a piece of paper that looked like it had a drawing of something on it, maybe the layout of the to-be bathrooms.

"You haven't even dug the trenches yet!" Caine criticized. "What did you need the train car walls for?"

"To see how much we had to be able to use," Computer Jack tried to explain.

"We didn't want to waste time digging big holes if we only had enough for small holes," Edilio said, backing up Jack. Roger admired how he was still trying to stay calm.

Sam, on the other hand, was not trying to stay calm. "Can't you just stop being selfish for once?" he shouted, throwing his hands up. "Not everybody worships you, 'King Caine.'"

Caine, who was still levitating a train car wall, moved it so that it hung over Sam. "Well, then, maybe I should crush you," he started to lower the wall, so that Sam and the others had to duck to avoid it hitting his head, "with my royal might."

Laughs broke out among the crowd of onlooking kids. Roger rolled his eyes, and Margo groaned.

Jack used his super-strength to push the wall out of the way, and it fell to the ground in front of them, forgotten by Caine's telekinesis.

"Come _on_ , Caine, what the hell?" the Breeze said, exasperated.

"Just stack the walls out of the way, and we'll pay you extra," Dekka tried to reason, holding her hands out in a peace gesture.

Caine swiped his hand through the air, knocking the lake's representatives off their feet with his power. "I'll be back in a few days, and you better have twice the payment ready." He spun around and stalked away from the lake.

Brianna, who had unsurprisingly gotten up the fastest, raced in front of Caine to give him the middle finger, and then sped back to safety. Some of the crowd yelled insults at him.

The crowd started to disperse. Some stayed behind, like Roger and Margo stayed behind, mostly so Roger could watch Edilio, but also because they wanted to know what would happen with the bathrooms.

Edilio, Sam, Dekka, and Brianna were discussing what to do about the situation, and Jack shouted his input while he was moving the car walls aside. After about thirty seconds, they evidently came to some sort conclusion, because Sam and Edilio started walking back to the lake, while Dekka and Brianna stayed behind with Jack, who was still taking care of the train car walls.

Margo turned to Roger, and gave him an "I'm gonna embarrass you, good luck" look. Roger's eyes widened, but before he could protest, Margo said, "Hey, Edilio."

Edilio turned to them, Sam moving on. He smiled, and blushed slightly when he saw Roger, no doubt remembering the embarrassing moments they'd shared. "Yeah?"

"How long will the construction of the bathrooms be?" Margo asked, impressing Roger not for the first time with the ability to quickly improvise.

Shrugging, Edilio said, "It depends. Hopefully only about a week or two, if Caine cooperates."

Margo nodded, and then left unceremoniously, leaving Roger and Edilio behind together.

Roger glanced at him, then looked at the ground. He could feel his face reddening out of awkwardness. "Caine's a dick," he finally said.

Edilio laughed, which made Roger smile. "Yeah, he is," Edilio agreed. "But he's a telekinetic dick, so we need him for some things."

"Like moving train car walls," Roger volunteered. Why was he so bad at conversation?

"Exactly," Edilio said, smiling. "So, you draw, I guess? That was kind of a dumb question, you're not called the Artful Roger for nothing…."

"I do, yeah," Roger replied. "I'm confident enough to say I'm pretty good." He laughed shortly.

"I bet you are," Edilio said. "What kind of stuff do you draw?"

Roger shrugged. "Whatever, really. People, usually, that's what I'm best at."

"That's cool," Edilio said, and he sounded like he meant it. "Well, I have to get back to work. Lake to run, and stuff."

"Yeah, that's okay," Roger said. "See you around."

"I hope so," Edilio said, and turned around to walk back to the docks.

 _I hope so_. That sounded sincere, like he actually wanted to be with Roger again.

Roger hurried over to Margo, who had been standing in the outskirts of the trailer park that surrounded the lake.

"I hate you," he told her.

Brianna and Dekka stood in silence as they waited for Jack to finish moving the train car walls away from the build site. He was grunting with the effort; apparently the walls were pushing his limits.

"Hurry up," Dekka grunted, visibly impatient. She was using her anti-gravity powers to lessen the gravity in the area around the walls, so it was easier for Jack to push them around.

Brianna glanced at her, trying to look annoyed. Not for the first time, she noticed that Dekka was very pretty, even if she didn't show it off. Not that she cared, of course, she was just noticing.

"Why don't you try pushing giant metal walls around?" Jack said. "It's not easy, even with super-strength." He muttered something about never asking for his power, which he did every time he used it.

Dekka threw an uncomfortable look in Brianna's direction, which Brianna ignored, pretending to be interested in Edilio and the Artful Roger, who were having a conversation near the trailer homes that some kids occupied. She'd only stayed because Jack was here, not because Dekka was here.

"Why don't you leave, then, if you're so angry and impatient?" Brianna asked Dekka. "Jack can handle the walls without your gravity turn-offs. Can't you, Jack?"

"No," Jack wheezed, collapsing with the effort of pulling a wall.

Dekka looked fed up. "Okay, just because I told you how I feel about you doesn't mean you can start being a total bitch to me because you don't want to reciprocate them!" she said, raising her voice, and stepping forward Brianna. "We're still going to work with each other, because we both are loyal to Sam, and we both can fight, and you're just going to have to deal with that. So stop being such a twelve-year-old about it, why don't you?"

Brianna was in front of her in an instant. "You were the one to ruin it. We were best friends, like sisters, and then your feelings got in the way, not mine. So why don't you stop being so… _Dekka_ about it?"

They stood there, fuming, inches away for a few moments. Jack remained where he had fallen, sitting up, uncertain. There was something, though, that made Brianna enjoy it. She and Dekka were in very close proximity to each other, and it was… exciting.

No, she told herself, she was just happy to finally yell at her. That was it.

Brianna turned and walked over to Jack, but then suddenly fell flat on her face.

"Hey, you tripped me!" she accused Dekka, shaking her finger at her.

Dekka turned and stalked off.


	4. Chapter 4: Dreams

At sundown, Edilio made his way to the White Houseboat to retire for the night. The day had been very long for him, and he was looking forward to sleeping for the next few hours before he woke up to do it all over again. He had a lot of responsibilty, but he'd pretty much signed up for it.

Dekka was sitting on the edge of the dock near their houseboat, her legs hanging over the side. Edilio almost said hi, but she didn't seem to be in a good mood — she looked very tense and was breathing in long, deep breaths — so he walked past her without a word. Before he entered the boat, Dekka said, "I saw you talking to Roger earlier."

Edilio felt his face flush, and was grateful neither of them were facing each other. "Yeah. I, uh, I asked him about his art, like you said I should," he responded, fiddling with the zipper of his dark jacket. The lake was cold at dark.

"Come here," she said, patting the spot on the deck next to her. Her voice told him that she was upset, but she was still trying to help him.

He shuffled over to her and sat down, slinging his submachine gun off of his shoulder and setting it down next to him. Dekka didn't say anything else. She glanced over at him briefly, patiently, and then went back to staring at the water inches from her feet. Edilio scanned the area nearby. It was the time of the day that most kids were heading back to their homes to get ready to go to sleep, so the docks were steadily emptying.

"Why do I get so nervous around him?" Edilio said softly. It wasn't really a question.

"Because it's new to you," Dekka replied, still staring at the water.

"But _what_ is it that's new?" he sighed. "I don't even know him, really. I'm not nervous around other people. Just him."

Dekka finally looked over at him. Her eyes seemed to be smiling a bit, but the rest of her face remained hard. "You'll figure it out, Edilio," she reassured him.

"Figure _what_ out?" Edilio protested, letting his voice betray how frustrated he was. "I don't understand, I—"

"Edilio," she interrupted him sternly. "Don't be an idiot. Don't stress yourself out too much. You'll come to understand." When he opened his mouth to complain some more, Dekka cut him off with " _Edilio_. Take your time. Talk to him some more. Get to know him. Befriend him." She stood up, and glanced over at Brianna, who was standing guard on the shore, chatting with Computer Jack and someone else.

"Goodnight," she said, and walked into their houseboat, disappearing.

That left Edilio with a lot to think about. It was aggravating that she seemed to know exactly what it was that Edilio didn't. He did like Roger, he enjoyed talking to him and being around him, but he didn't know how to do that. He knew he was being awkward whenever he talked to him, but he couldn't help it. For some reason he just sort of shut down. What was it about Roger that made him do that?

Edilio sighed, and rested his head in his hands, gazing blankly at the dark, still water below him.

What was it?

After a good while, he went inside and went to sleep. He dreamed of spilled water and paint brushes.

* * *

Dekka laid down on her bed in the White Houseboat, and let her tensed-up body relax. She'd had a long day of being grumpy. That argument with Brianna earlier had drained and upset her. It was frustrating for her because she liked the Breeze, but she knew Brianna wouldn't ever feel the same about her.

But maybe she did. Maybe Brianna did feel something for her. Maybe that was why she tried so hard to hate her and to irritate her, to try to convince herself she didn't. Maybe that was why she was with Computer Jack.

Dekka exhaled angrily at the thought of Brianna and Jack. She had nothing against Jack, nothing at all. He was a good kid — smart, helpful, and kind, even if he was a bit cowardly. But he was with Brianna. Brianna liked him, or pretended to.

Shaking her head, Dekka reached over to take a swig from her water bottle on the ground next to her bed. She had to stop dwelling on these things. What had she just told Edilio? Not to stress himself out about Roger? She was being hypocritical.

She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair. She had bigger problems to worry about. A distraction was what she needed. Like Edilio and Roger. That would work. She knew Edilio was gay — or at least that he liked boys — but she was going to let him figure it out himself. With some help from her, of course. That's what she thought was best for him.

Soon she fell asleep, and she dreamed of red pigtails and torn-up sneakers.

* * *

Laying in his own bed, the Artful Roger thought of Edilio. He'd really enjoyed the talk they'd had earlier, even if it had been terrifying and horrifically uncomfortable. It was so sweet how Edilio had tried to talk to him, even though it was obvious he had no idea what to say.

And his eyes... his eyes were Roger's favorite thing about his appearance. Deep brown and so kind and gentle, but strong at the same time. Just like Edilio himself. And his dark brown hair that had been growing out a bit, and stuck up half-heartedly in the front. His shoulders, his strong arms, his hands… he could go on forever.

But he didn't, because Justin pushed open the door and stepped inside the room. "Roger?" he said sleepily. "Can you tuck me in?"

Roger smiled at him. He loved Justin like he was his little brother. Since he'd accidentally moved into Justin's house he'd felt responsible for him.

"Of course," Roger said, and got up out of his bed.

There were two bunks in the room, for Roger, Justin, Atria, and Orc, but Orc normally just slept on the couch in the living area of the houseboat. Or the floor. The bunks were both on the left wall of the room, and there was a table with two chairs and a small sofa on the other wall. Roger slept on a top bunk — Orc slept on the bottom bunk under him when he slept in the bedroom, since he would probably make the bed collapse if he tried to sleep on the top — and Justin slept on the bottom bunk of the little's bed. Atria was already asleep, but Justin had stayed up late coloring with some of Roger's art supplies.

Justin climbed into his bed and Roger straightened out the covers before pulling them up to cover Justin. The little yawned and curled up into a ball under the blankets.

"Goodnight, Roger," he said, yawning again. "Don't let the coyotes bite."

Roger smiled again. "Don't let the coyotes bite," he agreed. "Goodnight, Justin. Sweet dreams."

After Justin closed his eyes, Roger went back to his bed and fell asleep. His dreams were of brown eyes and strong arms.

* * *

Brianna sat on her couch in the houseboat she shared with Computer Jack and an eleven-year-old boy named Trevor. Trevor had gone to sleep a little while ago, and Jack was in the bathroom getting ready to. Her and Jack had just made out again. It still didn't feel like how she thought it should. Maybe she didn't like Jack. But she did like him, he was cute and nice. Maybe not like that, though.

She groaned and slid down into a horizontal position. She hated thinking about feelings. Why did they have to be so complicated and hard to figure out? She supposed that was how all of adolescent life was. Still, adolescent life had a different meaning the FAYZ. They faced problems like murder, starvation, and looming threats of radioactive monsers during their adolescent life in the FAYZ. Typical teenage things like crying over gossip seemed ridiculous.

Dekka was the source of most of Brianna's frustrating feelings. She had considered Dekka a good friend, maybe even her best friend, before Dekka told her about how she felt about her. Brianna didn't exactly know why what Dekka said made her so angry, but it did.

Maybe it's because you feel that way too, she thought for just a moment. _No_ , she quickly shot down the idea. That's ludicrous. She liked Jack. Or, maybe. But her heart had been racing when she and Dekka had that argument earlier. They'd been so close to each other, and Brianna had stared at Dekka's dark, angry eyes. But that was just because she was angry, Brianna told herself. Everyone's heart raced when they were angry. That was a fact.

Jack came out of the bathroom, and said, "I'm going to bed now."

"Okay," Brianna said, sounding distant and far-off.

"Goodnight."

"G'night."

Her thoughts kept her rooted to the couch, and eventually sleep overtook her there. Her dreams were of dark, piercing eyes and running, running away from them.


End file.
